Record number of refugees removed

Immigration officials have stepped up the removal of asylum-seekers to record levels but the number of people applying for refugee status in Britain continues to rise, according to government figures released yesterday.

The Home Office said 3,120 people were removed from Britain in the second quarter of this year after lodging failed asylum claims, prompting fears from refugee support groups that the lives of some deportees were at risk.

The number of removals is well short of the 30,000 a year promised by the Government, and the Immigration minister, Beverley Hughes, admitted yesterday that the target had been abandoned.

The number of asylum-seekers coming to Britain between April and June rose to 20,400, an increase of 28 per cent on the same period last year and 4 per cent more than the number of applications for the previous three months.

The increase was linked to a surge in applications from Iraq and the Czech Republic.

Ms Hughes said that most claimants from the eastern European country were "found to be unfounded".

But the Refugee Council said more than 50 per cent of total asylum-applicants were being allowed to stay in Britain.

It noted that 43 per cent were accepted on first decision and that one quarter of applicants who appealed against refusal were also ultimately allowed to remain.

The council's chief executive, Nick Hardwick, said: "You only need look at the top four nationalities – Iraq, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Somalia – of those seeking asylum in the last quarter to see that this increase proves that the majority of asylum-seekers are fleeing for their lives from harsh and oppressive regimes."